Stumble Upon
by Emerald Embers
Summary: Bumblebee doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Ratchet/Ironhide


**Title:** Stumble Upon

**Pairing:** Ironhide/Ratchet

**Dedication:** To Marmaladecat :)

**Summary:** Bumblebee doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

.

Ratchet had never considered the possibility of being oblivious before. Why would he? He was the medic, it was his job to record and monitor. And for all their abilities to disguise themselves and blend in, the autobots were not a subtle race.

Still, he'd been stunned as he worked to repair Bumblebee's recently crushed foot when the newly vocal bot piped up, "What's Ironhide like, spark to spark?".

After explaining with a little fluster and a lot of surprise that he'd yet to have anything to do with Ironhide's spark, he'd started watching and listening to the reactions of his comrades; measuring their responses and coming to conclusions.

He wasn't sure when it had happened, but "Ironhide and I" had changed to "we" in his own vocabulary; others had responded in turn, and they were now a pair.

Only, some had assumed that 'pair' came with additional weight.

Admittedly, it was just an accident of circumstance - he and Ironhide were often paired up for missions, but their skills were complementary; he did not have the same firepower and brute strength as Ironhide, but he could hold his own in a fight and could repair in moments what lesser bots would take hours to fix. Ironhide, on the other hand, was not quite so dexterous and was prone to taking heavy damage from time to time, but he could bear it and made up for it with overwhelming power.

Pairing them up made sense; it just seemed that some had given the pairing another meaning. He probably ought to have words with Optimus at some point - but of course, that would then mean having to explain the issue, what there was of one, and moreover, it might mean being separated from Ironhide.

He'd worked with the bot long enough to get used to his company, and breaking away from it suddenly would be an unnecessary source of discomfort.

At least, that was how he excused himself from saying anything about it.

.

Ironhide was more open about the issue, to say the least.

"Do you know what that little upstart asked me?" Ironhide grumbled aloud during his physical, leaving Ratchet with the uncomfortable worry that Ironhide might discharge his cannons by accident due to distress while they were being inspected; cannon fire to the optical units was unpleasant at the best of times.

"Dare I ask?" Ratchet asked back, tsking away at the dirt built up around Ironhide's joints; the larger bot was terrible for neglecting to lubricate himself properly, as if he outright wanted to do himself more damage than necessary.

"Bumblebee asked if we were having a 'tiff'."

"Hm?" Ratchet asked, knowing full well he could look the word up in moments but not wanting to distract himself while carefully etching away at the mud build-up around the pistons in Ironhide's left arm.

"A lover's tiff is when two mating humans have had an argument and ceased speaking to each other. Then, when I asked him to explain himself, he said that -" A shudder then, and Ratchet nodded; Ironhide wouldn't have said anything, but he'd needed those pistons freeing up. "He said that as we have yet to spark-bond, we must have had a fight."

"Ah." Moving onto the right arm now; only, apparently Ironhide had other ideas, moving the limb out of reach and narrowing his optics.

"Ah?" Ratchet paused for thought, reached for Ironhide's right arm again, found himself promptly wrestled onto the hangar floor. "Ah?" Ironhide repeated, sounding dangerously amused.

"I hadn't really thought about it."

"Right," Ironhide replied, and Ratchet had to admit, while uncomfortable, this wasn't really that unpleasant. Perhaps it was the lack of threat, or... no. No, he was stuck for ideas past that. "Because it's normal for Bumblebee to ask two other grown bots if they're spark-bonding."

"It could be that he's learning from Sam," Ratchet suggested. "Sam is at a curious age for a human."

Ironhide went quiet for a long moment before laughing and propping his weight up with the help of his arms. "And you?"

"I don't know what you mean," Ratchet concluded, feeling strangely angry at himself on account of it being the truth.

"Maybe you should give it thought," Ironhide replied, before easing up off the floor, settling back down and holding out his right arm.

Ratchet felt strangely shaky finishing up the diagnostics after that.

.

It wasn't a week before Bumblebee rode in and found the imaginary 'tiff' to be over.

With enthusiasm.

.

The End


End file.
